Larva (mask)
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The larva (from Latin larva " ghost ") or Scheme (from Old High German scema , "wooden mask") referred to in Austria , German-speaking Switzerland , in southern Germany and in the Oberlausitz an often made of wood or laminated made paper mask that for carnival will be carried.
In theater studies , the mask worn by an actor on the face is also referred to as a larva, for example the Ō-beshimi (大 癋 見) used in the Japanese Nō theater to depict the tengu .
Derived from the larva is the term "unmasking", which was originally a metaphor for unmasking.
meaning
In a figurative sense, the word "larva" denotes the disguise of a person who wants to hide his evil plans; hence the expression: "to expose" a criminal. “Mask”, on the other hand, is used for any kind of pretense, even if it's supposed to hide good intentions.
“ Now you are showing your true colors, until now it was just the larva. "
But even before Friedrich Schiller, the word larva appeared in the Universal Lexicon of All Sciences and Arts with the explanation for “a blanket or a false face, which disguises the face” .
Furthermore, larva denotes a stage of development of insects and amphibians . Even death masks are called larvae, which intended to use the actual facial features of the deceased.
The Basel artist larva
The artist larva from Basel went their own way within the Alemannic language area. Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was used similarly or in the same way as in the carnival customs of the surrounding area. Then the first artist larva arose rather by chance and out of necessity . The fact that this became a unique tradition is not least due to the fact that there was a concentration of visual artists in Basel . They actively participated in the development of the Basel carnival larva and exerted a strong influence on it.
Unlike in southern Germany, the Basel Carnival larva is not only a recurring disguise today, but also serves as a unique representation of satire and parody of political and social life - a central subject of Basel Carnival . Originally only a few character figures were established - among them Pierrot and Harlequin from the Commedia dell'arte as well as the regionally rooted "Blätzlibajass", the Basel-specific figures "Altfrank", "Ueli", "Dummpeter", "Stänzler", the " Alti Dante ”and the“ Waggis ”. Under the influence of media such as film, television, comics and fantasy literature, the repertoire expanded widely after the Second World War.
In Basel, the larva has developed into a valued handicraft product that is only made for one session each year .
Painting of a Rottweiler larva
In Rottweil , larvae are carved out of linden wood at the local carnival and then painted (called " frame "). The barrel painter gives the sculpture or larva its actual appearance and thereby determines its character. Today there are only a few barrel painters who have mastered old techniques, such as the production of a chalk base based on animal glue , the application of a casing base or the production of egg tempera paint . Here, too, modern techniques with prefabricated painting media and substrates have found their way. However, “new” colors have the disadvantage that they take a very short time to process and therefore do not allow any smooth transitions.
The most important thing when “grasping” is the subsurface or the surface of the larva to be processed. Usually you get the masks from the carver, but they have to be sanded down afterwards and put in with a glue pot for insulation. After sanding again, a chalk base made of champagne chalk , Chinese chalk and rabbit glue is applied, which, depending on the type, is mixed with color pigments . After drying, the base is sanded again. This process is repeated until the chalk base forms a clean, absorbent and consistently good surface.
After the primer, a poliment paint is applied, which consists of French yellow poliment (clay), egg white and rabbit glue. After drying, it is finely sanded again until there is a continuous application of paint. Any unevenness can be leveled out with a damp linen cloth. Then you "rub" the surface and work with a poliment brush. This order is sealed with a thin layer of shellac.
Oil colors are then mixed with linseed oil varnish to create the basic shade of the larva. The cheeks and dimples, which should not be too dominant, pose a challenge. An indispensable tool for this is the "badger repeller" - a brush that has been specially developed for such work. It enables the wet-on-wet technique , with which smooth transitions are achieved. You can also use the glaze technique , in which a layer of glaze is applied again after each drying process. The disadvantage is that you have to include the drying phases and the transitions are not quite as soft. Finally, the barrel painter's mark should be painted on. When the oil paint has dried (around 14 days), the larva is given a protective coating (usually sealing wax ).
literature
- Tom Grigull: Japanese Larvae and Masks. A Leipzig collection, the Tokugawa and the Dainenbutsu-Sarugaku in Kyôto dissertation, LMU Munich 2011 ( [1] )
- Richard Weihe: The Paradox of the Mask. History of a form. W. Fink, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-770-53914-1 . ( online )
Web links
- Report from February 28, 2012: How the carnival came to the artist larva. on Tageswoche.ch
- Creative masks on Umweltbildung.at (PDF)
- Christian Rieder: The Basel artist larva on baselinsider.ch
See also
- Larvae Roman spirits of the dead
- Mask helmet antique helmet type
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 931. Larva. Mask. on Dictionary Synonyms: Larve. Mask - Textlog.de. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ Etymologie scheme mhd. Auf Kreuzdenker, Etymologie: scheme - Heinrich Tischner. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ^ Tom Grigull: Leipzig larvae and the masks of the Japanese Nô theater. at wissens-werk.de. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
- ↑ Richard Weihe: The paradox of the mask: history of a form . ISBN 978-3-7705-3914-7 , pp. 70 .
- ↑ Heinrich Lange: With extinguished eyes in: Der Tagesspiegel from February 11, 1999.
- ↑ Beat Trachsler: From the fool to the Ueli. GS-Verlag, Basel 2004, ISBN 3-7185-0194-5 .
- ↑ Barrel painter's mark. ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on narrenzunft.rottweil.de. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- ↑ barrel technology. ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on rottweilsjaeger.de. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
